Swear Toad
by hunter049
Summary: A new friend at Holly's apartment catches Artemis's eye.


**I don't own Artemis Fowl or the characters. Eoin Colfer does.**

**So this is only my second Artemis Fowl fanfic, but I hope this one does well. The other one seemed to do so, and I hope this one does too.**

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Artemis had come down to Haven with Butler for a quick vacation. After all, he needed a break from transferring funds from known (to him, not the authorities) criminals into the funds of a few charities that were having a tough time.

The teenage mastermind couldn't give up all illegal activities; after all, he was a Fowl. But he had vowed to change his ways, and now was using his criminally adept mind to the benefit of the many, instead of the few (family and the Butlers, which were family in all but blood).

Butler consented to leaving his charge in Holly's care, after some negotiating. Holly could, and had many time previously, protect Artemis in case of danger. Of course, planning to stay in her apartment, she figured that the chance of danger would be at a minimum.

She was somewhat right.

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"Holly." The teen genius asked. Both were on the couch in her apartment, and a new presence caught Artemis's attention.

"Yes?" The LEP officer asked in response.

"Is that a swear toad?" He pointed to a small amphibian squatting on the couch arm. Holly nodded and petted its head.

"Yup. His name is Neut. Short for Neutrino, obviously. But newts are like the cousins to frogs and toads, so I-" She was interrupted by the Mud Boy.

"Holly, toads and newts are very different. They belong to different orders, Anura and Caudata, respectively. Altogether, the classifications make it clear that the two amphibians are not _cousins_, as you put it. This fellow seems to be a..." Artemis took out his laptop to research this toad. His eyes widened.

"A toad." He said quickly. Holly caught his haste, and she rolled her eyes. That much was obvious. A thought crossed her mind.

"You find something wrong about Neut, Artemis?" She asked.

The genius shook his head. "No. He's just a normal toad."

"Then let me see your laptop." She demanded.

He shook his head firmly. "Holly, he's-"

"Give me the laptop, Mud Boy!" She lunged at him, just as Artemis loosed up his grip on the portable computer. It went flying, and luckily landed on a floor pillow.

"D'arvit." The toad croaked. Artemis glanced at the toad with a curious look. Holly, however, still had most of his attention. After all, they were in a compromising position should anyone intrude their time together.

She straddled his hips and her arms were on either side of his head. His hands were at her hips, both as instinct and at the off-chance that they fell from the couch.

Holly scrambled off Artemis, and he sat up, both looking rather red. Holly replayed their intimate moment from when they had been in the gorilla cage, after being sent back by their demon friend. Artemis had his mind split between that scene and the guilt he felt from having tricked his dear LEP friend into going back in time with him.

She may have forgiven him, but some part of him still hadn't forgiven himself. That, along with his past transgressions, had manifested itself into a mental disease that, among other things, caused an alter ego to proclaim his undying love for her.

Holly, now done with their moment's replay, looked over at Artemis, and recognized his pensive mood. Their accidental moment just a minute ago reminded her of more than just that moment back in time.

It reminded her that they had been through a lot, from kidnapping (even if she had been the unwilling victim and he had been the kidnapper) to battling goblins during their rebellion in Haven. They had thwarted Opal Koboi's plans multiple times, whether those plans involved eventual world domination, obtaining unimaginable magical abilities through the abduction of many species, or most recently, destroying all humans on the face of the planet.

Artemis had changed, in her mind as well as in the eye of the public, Haven's or Ireland's. He'd gone from a conniving criminal mastermind, bent on ransoming her for fairy gold but gave back half of it in return for his mother's sanity. He'd then offered to help in taming the goblin insurrection in return for the LEP's assistance in rescuing his father from the Russian mafia. They gained a mutual respect of sorts starting from that adventure, instead of staying as adversaries from the kidnapping incident.

Afterward, many adventures from stealing back fairy tech from a manipulative businessman, keeping fairies secret and stopping Opal, rescuing a demon warlock from another, albeit female and French, genius, traveling through time where they had shared the intimate moment, dealing with with Artemis's Atlantis Complex (with paranoia and multiple personalities included) while saving Atlantis, and saving mankind from Koboi's latest, and last, plan to take over the world.

All that had cemented a deep and trusting platonic relationship between the LEP officer and the resident Mud Boy. Artemis had recalled all this as well, but his mind stayed stuck on the guilt he felt for putting her through all that he had.

With this in mind, he spoke up. "Holly, I'm sorry."

She looked at him with a perplexed expression. "About our tumbling a bit ago? That was my fault, Arty."

"No, not about that. I'm sorry I lied to you so you would accompany me back to save the lemur. I'm sorry I kidnapped you when we first met. I'm sorry-" Holly interrupted him.

"Artemis, I forgave you for all that a long time ago. Just leave it in the past. I'm not mad at you for any of that, Arty." They hugged, and the toad croaked on top of Artemis's laptop. Holly looked at the screen.

"Fowler's Toad...?" She whispered.

"What?" Artemis asked.

She burst out laughing. Whether it was because of the actual species name or because of his actions to keep her from knowing a rather inconsequential fact about her toad, she didn't know. He turned, saw the toad croak in what mimicked a laugh, and flushed as he realized why his elfin friend was laughing.

Both the toad and Artemis let out, "D'arvit."

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**Hope you liked it.**


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